Well - wanted to go camping with electric purely, I think, so we had use to pump our air beds up, fridge, electric kettle, toaster and decent lights at night, but where we want to go has non electric pitches only left.
What do people use for lights please?
Also what do people do for a fridge if you have no electric, need to keep milk cool and daughters medicine that she has to take every night for her kidneys?
Money is tight so can not go affording lots of stuff or large expensive lights.
I'm sure other people will have much better suggestions, but we don't use EHU and take a portable 12v battery. You can get one from Halfords for £90 which might be out of your price range. We use this with a 12v cool box and 6 ice packs.
We put three ice packs in the cool box before we set off and run the cool box from the cigarette lighter while driving. When we get to the campsite, we use the facilities to freeze the other 3 ice packs. Obviously, some don't offer this. If we need to, we run the cool box from the 12v battery before bed for 30 mins. In the morning, we swap the ice packs over and, if we are driving anywhere, take the cool box with us so it can run off the car battery. Repeat as necessary. Keeping the cool box somewhere sheltered helps (not in the car as we found out - it got far too hot in there! Silly mistake, I know.).
Like I said, I'm sure other people have better suggestions but that's what we do.
EDIT: forgot to say that the 12v battery has a light on it and is enough to illuminate the part of the tent we're in but it's heavy so we have 2 LED torches for nipping to the toilet block.
------------- August - Station Caravan Park & Cannich Caravan and Camping Park, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Ask the site if they will store your daughters medication in their fridge .
Ufo lights from wilkinsons , run off AA batteries from poundland 12 for £1 , excellent bright lights .here £3.99 each .
Poundland has pocket sized wind up torches , same things are a fiver in our petrol station . great for emergencies or just for the kids to have in their pods .
We have an electric lantern which comes with both a mains and an in-car charger. We usually charge this up overnight the night before we go and it's still going strong at the end of a long weekend. Throws out loads of light too!
Most campsites will either have facilities to refreeze your ice-packs or will hire them to you so just take a good coolbox and you should be fine.
------------- Mar - Milarrochy Bay - 9 days
Apr - Drayton Manor - 1 day
May - Saxdale - 4 days
May - Nantcol - 9 days
July - Weymouth - 1 day
July - Rozel Bay - 14 days
Aug - Corfe Castle - 2 days
Aug - Saxdale - 4 days
Sep - Stratford - 2 days
Oct - Stainforth - 2 days
Dec - Saxdale - 5 days
To be continued.....
I too would ask the site if they have a fridge where you could store your daughter's medicine. Any site owner worth their salt would do this surely?
We don't use EHU - we've just bought a 5 day cool box (Igloo Marine 500) and this works brilliantly (although only used for 3 days so far). If you need to keep medicine in cool box make sure the site have the facility to re freeze ice packs and remember to take an extra set with you so you've always got some in your box and some in the freezer (we use 2 litre bottles of water frozen - they seem to last longer). Also, freeze some of your milk/meat/juice etc and make sure everything you put in there is chilled in your fridge at home first.
for lights we use a rechargeable lantern - about £30 from Argos. One charge at home lasts for at least 3 x 2 night trips - and comes with a car charger too just in case. We have a torch each too for trips to the loo.
Enjoy
x
------------- Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to slide in sideways --- champagne in one hand and strawberries in the other --- screaming... WOOHOO, WHAT A RIDE!"
I am sure that any site that is worth staying at even if they don't have a fridge will allow you to keep the medicine in either the wardens or the owners fridge, if not demand your money back, find a more acceptable site and remember to tell us all.
Wishing you all an excellent trip!
------------- Steve
Look into my eyes, not around my eyes but into my eyes
We generally buy rechargable kit that has an adapter so it will charge from the car lighter socket. This includes our rechargable lantern, and pur aerobed pump. We also have the incar adapters for our phones and the Nintendo.
Lights are the ASDA 4.99 ufo's which we have found better than some of the cheaper ones. AA batteries are now on there 4th trip, so last a while.
Not sure why you would need an electric kettle, we just boil water in a saucepan on the gas stove.
With the weather we have we have no need to worry about keeping our food cool
If you get a standard coolbox with some ice packs most sites will now do an exchange service on ice packs when yours are thored just swop for some frozen ones. i believe i read someone on the site has just purchased a coolbox from asda really cheap and said her ice blocks lasted nearly 4 days it was that good.
as for the lights theres plenty around that just require batterys, theres an offer on one at netto next monday at £7.99 which looks reasonable and even comes with a remote.
your toast and hot water can be done on a single gas burner you can buy a trelis type toaster to stick over the open flame which does 2 or 3 slices a time as a matter of fact i have one somewhere if i find it you can have it, same for your hot water either a saucepan or small camping kettle would be quite adequate
Regarding the air beds most pumps now come with a 12v adapter and can be used of the cars cigarette lighter socket. if not i believe go outdoors where doing one a fiver last week
We bought a battery pump for blowwing up the matress and it is still working on the original batteries 1 year on, it also means you can put the matress in the tent before inflating it. Argos stocks it for under a tenner.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.